Understanding and contextualizing social impacts from the privatization of fisheries: An overview

Fisheries management around the world has experimented with regulations to promote privatization, in order to reach such multifaceted goals as ending overfishing and reducing economic inefficiencies. This review surveys a wide range of empirical experiences in different contexts around the world to help provide a fuller picture of potential and sometimes disparate consequences from privatization in general and new ways of organizing around fishing that can follow in the wake of such measures. Looking at the many different participants in the fishing industry—from crew, small-boat owners, to households and communities—as well as the diverse sociocultural contexts in which fishing takes place, enables a better understanding of who and what is impacted, how they are impacted, why and with what further consequences, such that communities come to be seen less oppositional to economy, but rather constituted by multiple scalar processes and by economic relations comprising different motivations and behaviors.     

Fuel use and greenhouse gas emission implications of fisheries management: the case of the new england atlantic herring fishery

Commercial fisheries are heavily dependent upon the combustion of fossil fuels and as such contribute to increased atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases and the concomitant impact on the world's climate. The fuel use and greenhouse gas intensity of a fishery is a function of several variables. One that has not been previously investigated is the role of fisheries management. Using historical gear-specific fuel use and landings data, we employ scenarios to examine the potential impact that recent changes in the management of the New England fishery for Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) may have on fishery-related fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions. Specifically, we consider the direct effect of the seasonal ban of midwater trawling in favor of purse seine and fixed gears within Atlantic herring fishing Area 1A. We also evaluate the indirect effect of reductions to the Area 1A total allowable catch of Atlantic herring on the regional supply of bait and the resulting potential need to import bait herring from Canada. Our results indicate that because of the five-fold lower fuel intensity of purse seining, relative to midwater trawling (21 L/ton versus 108-118 L/ton), the seasonal ban on midwater trawling has the potential to markedly reduce overall fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions associated with the herring fishery. These results indicate that management decisions can strongly influence energy demands and resulting greenhouse gas emissions of fisheries. We urge those involved with fisheries management to take this into account when developing policy and management measures.     

Masterstroke or paper tiger – The reform of the EU׳s Common Fisheries Policy

The European fisheries policy has undergone a substantial reform. The reform process was initiated by a Green Paper published by the European Commission in 2009. It was recently finalised with an agreement on a new Basic Regulation between the European Commission, the Council and the Parliament in October 2013. The reform of the Common Fisheries Policy will be an important step towards a more sustainable fisheries policy in Europe. The most important reform steps are the introduction of maximum sustainable yield as the new management target, a landing obligation for bycatch and a governance shift towards regions. Although the mentioned reform elements are in generally very promising, their concrete design does not always meet existing expectations.     

Does the relationship between fishermen and enforcers impact regulatory compliance?

The focus of US fisheries regulations has changed from expanding fishing effort to protecting resources for current and future use. Regulations, enforcement, and compliance have changed and grown over the last forty years. Members of both the enforcement and commercial trawl fishing communities speculate and complain about regulatory compliance, often from opposite perspectives. A small research project in Oregon studied the relationship between these communities and regulation compliance. Although a difference was noted in the relationships between the varied levels of enforcement and trawl fishermen, this did not constitute a shift in compliance; compliance remained high with participants from both communities reporting that the fishermen have “little choice but to follow the rules.” What varied was communication within and between these communities, and the amount of control participants’ felt they had in regulation development. A small glimpse into the relationships within and between these communities offers insights into the factors that may impact fisheries, regulation development and enforcement, and communication within and between these interdependent, occupational communities.